OK, so it was rainy, but that made it a perfect day for us to talk about water. Students from two Vancouver schools, False Creek Elementary and Jules Quesnel Elementary, came down to Granville Island to hear us talk about our infographic, Water Wow!. The energy was palpable, with over a hundred 11- and 12-year olds in the room.

We warmed up with some “wows!” and recruited a volunteer “wow” co-ordinator, who enthusiastically cued the audience. We talked about the water in their backyard—the watersheds on Vancouver’s North Shore—and around the world, such as the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China.

A group of volunteers created a “human infographic” on stage, to demonstrate how water is distributed globally. We had a lot of fun with that, thanks to Paula’s fully-decorated signs!

Question period was lively, especially as some of the kids knew far more than we’d expected. And we were lucky to have Water Wow’s illustrator and designer in the audience and available to field questions about how the art was created.

It was a treat to connect with our audience directly. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and we left inspired!

Librarians are a little like the fairy godmothers of children’s literature. A wonderful group of these fairy godmothers—from the Ontario Library Association—have sprinkled fairy dust on our book, Water Wow!, by nominating it for the Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award. And it’s in great company—all the other nominated books look really interesting!

The Silver Birch is part of the Forest of Reading Awards (and forests are perfect for fairies, of course). What makes these awards so special is that they’re reader’s choice awards. I’m thrilled that kids in Ontario will be reading Water Wow! Thank you fairy godmothers!